When asked where she is from, Malia Martin shared, “I’m born, raised, and rooted in the mokupuni of Oʻahu, specifically in the Ewa moku and the ahupuaʻa of Honouliuli.” As an undergraduate student in the Global Environmental Science (GES) program at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, Martin is merging her love and respect for place, care for community, and passion for science.
“I decided to pursue GES because it allows me to expand my interests, in not only biology or engineering or physics, but to feel the freedom to try new things and see where my interests lie,” Martin said. “Through the program, I have been able to study plankton, bottomfish fisheries, engineering, coral ecology, and ocean chemistry.”
While she was a student at James Campbell High School, Martin was president of the school’s STEM Enrichment Club, which competed in Science Olympiad, Science Bowl and more. Immediately after high school, she interned with the nonprofit group Kupu in their Hawaiʻi Youth Conservation Corps and found her first love: ʻāina.
Diving into fisheries science
After starting her college career at Leeward Community College and being drawn to oceanography, Martin worked with professor Donn Viviani and spent nearly three years sorting, counting, and identifying fish larvae sampled from Kanēʻohe Bay. In Viviani’s lab, she connected with NOAA researcher Don Kobayashi, who introduced her to NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center Young Scientist Opportunity (PYSO) and NOAA’s Hōkūala Kīkaha Kai Internship Opportunity.
During the PYSO internship in summer 2022, Martin created an artificial light prototype to aid deep sea underwater camera surveys. This was developed to directly help with the Bottomfish Fishery-Independent Survey in Hawaiʻi (BFISH).
“Through this program, I was able to gain experience in marine engineering by learning and utilizing Computer-Aided Design, 3D printing, soldering, and more,” Martin said.
In 2023, Martin transferred from Leeward CC to UH Mānoa’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) and enrolled in the GES program. For her GES undergraduate research thesis, Martin extended her PYSO project and is mentored by UH Mānoa oceanographer Jeffrey Drazen and NOAA senior marine scientist Benjamin Richards. Martin’s research is investigating how the artificial lights might affect the behavior of the Deep 7 Bottomfish, the seven most culturally important and highly valued of the deep-water bottomfish species in Hawaiʻi. She will be presenting preliminary results of this work at the American Fisheries Society meeting in September.
“Guaranteeing that the Deep 7 Bottomfish can be fished for years to come without them being overexploited will allow Hawaiʻi residents to catch their own fish and create stronger food security for islanders, a step toward Kanaka autonomy,” Martin said.
For more information, see SOEST’s website.
–By Marcie Grabowski
